Quarry collapse kills three in Thanh Hoa

Update:
February, 09/2015 - 09:00

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Although the collapse was discovered in the morning, the victims' bodies reached their homes only at 5.30 pm, because the quarry sits deep inside a forest in a remote area that is inaccessible by either car or motorbike. — Photo vietnamnet.vn

HA NOI (VNS) — Three people reportedly died of suffocation in a quarry collapse on Sunday in Xuan Le Commune, Thuong Xuan District in Thanh Hoa Province.

The names of the three victims are Cam Ba Tai, Cam Ba Hue and Cam Ba Thu, all residents of Van Xuan Commune, located 20 km from the quarry in the same district, the Tien Phong (The Vanguard) newspaper was told by Le Dinh Ke, chief of Van Xuan Commune Police.

Two of the victims were related. The families of the victims are very poor, the police chief added.

The incident was discovered at about 10am on Sunday, when a quarrier went past the mine pit where the three victims were working, and saw that it had collapsed. He immediately called out to other workers nearby for help.

However, all rescue efforts were too late because the pit had possibly collapsed long ago and the victims must have died of suffocation after being buried under the mud.

The illegal blue-stone quarry is located on a hill known as "Doi Ty," meaning "hill of billions". Rumour has it that several persons, who have mined the hill, have earned billions of dong from it.

Although the collapse was discovered in the morning, the victims' bodies reached their homes only at 5.30 pm, because the quarry sits deep inside a forest in a remote area that is inaccessible by either car or motorbike.

Authorised agencies are working with the victims' families to identify the cause of the incident. — VNS